Just what was Mercedes thinking?
lewis Hamilton had the race in the
bag. even with the late race safety
car the win was safe. Nico rosberg
was a buffer between Hamilton
and third placed sebastian Vettel
and around Monaco track position
matters more than anywhere else.
so, what the hell was Mercedes
thinking?
Hamilton had controlled the race
from the start right up to the moment
Max Verstappen attacked Romain
Grosjean. While the watching world
was concerned about the well-
being of the young Dutchman the
Mercedes pitwall was busy looking
for its marbles. Hamilton’s tyres
weren’t the best but they were
fresher than those on Rosberg’s
car. The concern was whether his
soft tyres would come back up to
temperature, and since Hamilton had
a good lead back to his teammate the
decision was made to bring the race
leader in. It was a mistake that cost
not only Lewis Hamilton victory but
the team a 1-2 finish.
For a time at the start of the race
Mercedes was under pressure.
Hamilton held a two second lead
over Rosberg in second, himself with
a two second advantage over Vettel.
The warmer conditions helped the
Ferrari remain in contact. But like a
cat playing with a mouse, when the
time came the two Mercedes drivers
pulled away.
Hamilton benefitted from traffic
before his first stop, extending his
lead out to more than eight seconds
before Sebastian Vettel dived into the
lane. He was close enough to force
Mercedes to react on the following
lap by pitting Rosberg to ensure the
status-quo remained. There was no
need to react with Hamilton. He was
well clear.
He remained clear until the
safety car emerged in the wake of
Vestappen’s heavy crash. The Toro
Rosso had been moving well through
the field thanks to fresher tyres than
those ahead. He’d been allowed
through by Carlos Sainz and was
tucked underneath Vettel’s rear wing,
a lap down but using the Ferrari like
a snow plough. Grosjean was onto
the rouse when Vettel cruised up
behind the Lotus driver to put him a
lap down. With Verstappen tight in
behind Vettel, Grosjean placed his
car to perfection on the inside of the
station hairpin, allowing the Ferrari
through while holding Verstappen at
bay.
The Toro Rosso clearly had more
pace and swarmed all over the back
of the Lotus but there was no way
through. His best opportunity came
heading into Ste Devote only for the
teenager to misjudge the move. He
lost his front left wheel as he pulled
out from behind Grosjean too late
and slid heavily into the barrier.
By that stage Vettel was no threat
to either Mercedes having fallen
off the back of Robserg enough
to allow him breathing space. That
had not been the case earlier in
the race, Vettel had even looked
underneath Rosberg at the start
but ran out of room. Vettel’s first
corner move boxed Daniel Ricciardo
out and in the process opened the
door for the second Red Bull of
Daniil Kvyat to sneak underneath
Ricciardo. The Australian fell to sixth
midway through the race when Kimi
Raikkonen used the undercut to gain
track position.
Red Bull had better pace in
Monaco, a circuit where engine
performance is less important than
most circuits. Both Ricciardo and
Kvyat had shown pace in qualifying
and Ricciardo was disappointed
not to have been third. The warmer
race conditions did not favour them
though, and on balance the Ferrari’s
were quicker, at least that of Vettel
was. Late in the race Ricciardo was
able to put a slide job on Raikkonen,
a move more akin to the speedway
22
GPWEEK.com // 22
GPWEEK.com //
F1 >>> MONACO
PARTNERS: